Company 13’s Macdeth is a cracking updated kid-friendly classic filled with physical comedy and the tastiest morsels of Shakespeare’s prose. Director James Pratt and Company 13’s four accomplished actors have devised a high-intensity, playful and powerful tale of greed and power. Macdeth will blow the dust off your schoolroom Shakespeare and rejuvenate your experience of seeing a true theatre classic. Performed in an immediate, accessible style, it is great for kids and adults who are convinced Shakespeare is going to be unfathomable and boring. Be entertained by the stupidity and skill of Company 13 as they enact the dreadfully bloody tale of Macbeth’s passage from a comfortable nobleman to a despised tyrant. This piece of fast-paced theatre combines Shakespeare’s rich language with a healthy dose of invention and idiocy, leaving in all the gruesome murder, foul play and pathos; all the injustice and cruelty… all accompanied by beautiful music performed live by the actors. Funny, cautionary and fake-bloody, Macdeth is aimed at an audience of 8 -13-year-old children, but it will be enjoyed by all ages and is a great first taste of Shakespeare.

Venue Format
Theatre, Black Box Venue
Technical Rating
C
Touring Party
5
Considerations

The show is best viewed with a raked seating design with the show being played out on a flat stage. Wings are necessary however they can be made from Tabs hung on stage. The company will bring all other set requirements.

Company 13’s makes theatre to enliven and provoke audiences: to inspire people to reflect upon their lives. To broaden their understanding and appreciation of the paradoxes of life. To contribute, in a small way, to the larger question of ‘what makes us tick’? Our work is absurd, funny, grotesque and dramatic and made in a process that values the seriousness of play. We create theatre that is accessible, unexpected, and celebrates the human condition. Our style of production is simple and ‘naive’ placing value on the skills of the performers and their ability to connect to the audience.

We developed work using a devising process that utilises improvisation and play, our skills in the non-naturalistic theatre styles, to make work that is original and expresses our values.

Company 13 was first established in 2006. We all trained at the John Bolton Theatre School in the le Coq lineage of European physical theatre forms - melodrama, European clown, commedia, mime, bouffon, mask, Greek tragedy. Over the last 9 years we have developed our idiosyncratic ensemble style, grown from a synthesis of these styles. We are also accomplished musicians who compose and perform the live music which accompanies our shows.

Company Website
company13.com.au

Unique Selling Point

Art has a unique ability to hold paradoxes together and that’s exactly what this show does. It’s tragic but it’s funny, it’s grotesque but it’s beautiful, it’s stupid but very clever. We believe this is a wonderful aspect to our work. It’s a classic tale, high brow even, but it’s easy to watch and understand. It’s theme of power corrupting is highly relevant to todays environment and the show provides an entertaining way to talk about about these issues with a young audiences. It’s an Australian original work that offers a unique theatrical experience.

Marketing Materials

Macdeth is contracted for a 5 week tour of Regional Vic in 2018 and as such we have press releases, poster and flyer templates, technical specifications, promotional footage and images. We will also have social media material from the 2018 tour. We have an info pack with all the key information as well as suggested target audience and strategies to engage them.

Community Engagement

We offer the community a high quality unique show for families that is both comedic and tragic. We offer a memorable experience that will resonant with the audience. The way we devise our shows and the style of the work means we provide a different theatrical experience. We hope to inspire discussion about the show and the characters and their very human flaws. The show has not been designed to engage and explore specific community themes. Though we applaud this approach to making work and are interested in designing a new work that explores this outcome, this particular show is a classic touring work. During the season at the Arts Centre Melbourne, after each performance the company met the audience in the foyer. Initially this was to garner children's reaction to the work for documenting purposes. We realised this was a welcomed extension of the show and gave the children the space to express themselves and be part of a larger conversation. The families stayed and chatted with us and each other, which enhanced the experience for us and the audience. The company would therefore be available to meet the audience after the show.